KfW IPEX finances first climate-neutral terminal based on hydrogen

Germany’s KfW IPEX-Bank is providing financing for the new Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT), described as Europe’s first fully climate-neutral terminal using hydrogen technology and the first one to be intelligently networked.

The trimodal inland terminal is being built in the Port of Duisburg, the world’s largest inland port.

DGT is an international joint venture of logistics companies and port operators and will become an integral part of the Port of Duisburg.

The funded project comprises the construction and operation of phase 1 of the DGT, which will be the largest container terminal in a European inland port with an area of 235,000 square meters and where goods can be handled trimodally between ship, rail and truck.

In addition, the DGT will also be the first container terminal to have completely climate-neutral operation using hydrogen. This is being done with the help of the “enerport II” project, in which hydrogen-based energy conversion is to be implemented in the Port of Duisburg, and as many processes as possible are to be electrified.

The DGT is regarded both as a model for the environmental transformation of inland ports (in this case from coal to hydrogen) and as a pilot project for the future of logistics.

In addition, a warehouse for hazardous goods tank containers is to be created on the DGT premises. This can be used by the chemical industry along the Rhine River when water levels are low and navigation is poor as an alternative to storage on inland waterway vessels.

At the same time, the warehouse will become a transshipment site for tank containers filled with hydrogen or the precursor ammonia. From here, hydrogen is supplied to smaller industrial companies, which, unlike large customers, cannot be connected to a pipeline for the time being.